November trade figures of the Antwerp diamond sector illustrate two tendencies. On the one hand, we see that the trade in rough diamonds was very good, as compared to last year. On the other hand, the lower figures for polished diamonds show that the market is under pressure. In general terms we observed that more goods were traded in 2014 as compared to 2013.

The rough diamond trade figures increased year on year for the period of November. On the import side we note a rise of 15,8% in volume and 14,08% in value. Most diamonds imported last month came from the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, we observed a significant year on year upturn in the volume of goods coming from Canada. The export of rough diamonds also increased as compared to November of last year, with a 27,04% volume and 9,29% value boost. An especially noticeable rough diamond export surge was visible for the United Arab Emirates and India as compared to November 2013.

Contrasting the higher rough diamond figures, is the lower volume of polished diamonds traded this past month, compared to the same period in 2013. Overall, polished diamond imports declined, representing a downturn of 7,55% in volume and 7,18% value. Furthermore, we noticed a dip in the volume of polished diamonds exported to important markets such as Hong Kong and Israel. A noteworthy development is that more but less expensive stones were exported to the United States. These export developments are reflected in an overall 16,34% decline in the volume of exports and 8,29% in value. The European market is doing well, as proven by the positive export figures to Switzerland and Italy.